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At the beginning of World War One, Templemore in County Tipperary was home to thousands of German prisoners of war (POWs). Now it is the training college for An Garda S铆och谩na, the Irish police force.

On 5 August 1914, as the opening shots of the war were fired, the German ship SS K枚nigin Luise was sunk. It was the first naval casualty of the war.

Some of the German troops rescued from the ship ended up in Templemore, and a POW camp was set up there in September 1914 that would eventually house more than 2,000 military prisoners.

Many Tipperary locals welcomed this boost to the town. Supplying the barracks and its prisoners was good for business. The townsfolk were also intrigued by their visitors, even exchanging gifts through the barbed wire fences of the compound at Christmas 1914.

However, the unsettled political situation in Ireland meant the POW camp was short-lived and it closed only months after it was established.

The prisoners were moved to Leigh in England, much to the disappointment of the local community and, from the evidence of letters sent by the prisoners themselves, seemingly much to their regret also.

Sergeant John Reynolds, who worked at the police training college in Templemore, has researched the history of the POW camp during World War One.

Location: Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary, Ireland, Latitude 52.791305 Longitude -7.841653
Image of POW Camp at Templemore Barracks in Co Tipperary, 1914/15
Photograph courtesy of John Reynolds / An Garda S铆och谩na

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